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Gay US Congressman Barney Frank slams gay Republicans

Barney Frank, the first openly gay US congressman in history, has some harsh words for gay people who belong to the group Log Cabin Republicans.

‘I now understand why they call themselves Log Cabin: their role model is Uncle Tom,’ the famous liberal says in an interview at the Democratic National Convention where he will speak tonight (6 September).

Frank, who is retiring from Congress in November after more than three decades in office, singles out Log Cabin Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper in the interview.

‘Mr. Cooper said, ‘Well at least they’re not saying bad things about us.’ That’s just extraordinary,’ Frank says. ‘Again, 30 years ago when we were emerging from the vice of prejudice, I understood that. But no, we shouldn’t be accepting a kind of second class citizenship, [and saying], ‘You can treat us badly as long you don’t yell at us.’"

‘They’re accepted on [the GOP’s] terms,’ he adds. ‘They’re willing to be accepted with no rights — no right to marry, no right to serve in the military, no right to be protected against hate crimes, no right to be protected in employment. I’ll be honest: For 20 years now I’ve heard how the Log Cabins are going to make Republicans better, but they’ve only gotten worse.’

Towleroad.com reports that Cooper has responded to Frank’s remarks via email referring to the congressman as ‘a partisan hack.’

‘We understand that Barney has earned his protected place within the Democrat Party by being their attack dog on gay rights issues, demonizing Republicans and undermining efforts at bipartisanship that would actually improve LGBT Americans lives,’ Cooper writes. ‘We expect this kind of bile from Barney, especially when it plays into the Obama campaign’s efforts to divide, distract and deceive the American people. Frank calls us ‘Uncle Toms’ and pretends that Log Cabin hasn’t been on the front lines of the fight for equality. The truth is, by speaking conservative to conservative about gay rights, Log Cabin Republicans are doing some of the hardest work in the movement, work that liberals like Barney are unwilling to do and couldn’t do if they tried.’